Tampa Bay Lightning

A huge win, and a first for Paul Ranger.
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John Grahame stopped 19 of 22 in the win. Tampa staked itself to a 4-0 lead before allowing Atlanta to get close in garbage time. No harm no foul as the Lightning get away with the 4-3 win. Paul Ranger scored his first NHL goal in the game on a long point shot and because of Atlanta's three goals late it turned out to be the game winning goal. The other rookie blueliners played very very sparingly, and the best compliment I can bay them is that I didn't really notice either O'Brien or Helbling with the exception of a mistake Timo made late in the game.
Ranger led all Lightning rookies with 22:26 of ice time with 1 shot, 1 hit and 2 blocked shots. Ryan Craig was -1 in 16:06 with 1 shot, 1 hit and 1 blocked shot. Timo Helbling played 11:11 and was +1 with 1 hit and 1 blocked shot. Evegeny Artyukhin played an effective 4:44 with 2 shots and 1 hit. Doug O'Brien was the low man in ice time with 3:24 of even hockey with 1 blocked shot.
Game sheet from [url=http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20052006/GS021086.HTM]NHL.com.[/url]

In the wake of defenseman Pavel Kubina's injury in last night's game against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Lightning have recalled defenseman Timo Helbling. Helbling will join the Lightning in Tampa as they prepare to host the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night.
Helbling has played in 60 games for the Falcons this season collecting seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points and 56 penalty minutes. The 6-foot-2, 209-pound native of Basel, Switzerland started the season with the Lightning registering one assist in five games played. Helbling is currently second on the Falcons in scoring among defensemen.

Wasted a great effort by Grahame.
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Grahame stopped 27 of 29 in the loss. Defenseman Pavel Kubina was injured on a Craig Adams hit leaving the Lightning with just four of their regular defensemen. Doug O'Brien played better in his third NHL game than in his previous callup, but is struggling still with the size/strength of the NHL, in my opinion. Paul Ranger played 26:13 of even hockey with 3 shots on goal, 1 hit and 3 blocked shots. As injuries have led to an increase in his ice time, Ranger has responded. Ryan Craig played 19:21 of even hockey with 1 shot and 1 hit. O'Brien played 12:24 of even hockey with 1 shot and 1 block. Evgeny Artyukhin was even in 7:38 with 2 shots and 2 hits.
Game sheet from [url=http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20052006/GS021065.HTM]NHL.com.[/url]

The Tampa Tribune is reporting Doug O'Brien [url=http://www.tbo.com/sports/lightning/MGB1T4NV8LE.html]is expected to be recalled today from Springfield of the AHL.[/url] Defenseman Day Boyle missed much of last night's game with an ankle injury which is expected to keep him off the ice for at least a game or two.

Peaking at the right time.
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John Grahame stopped 19 of 23 shots faced before going 3-for-3 in the shootout. Brad Richards proved once again he's the Lightning's best shootout player juking Henrik Lundqvist out of his skates for the winning goal. Richards also tied Brian Bradley's Lightning single season assist record with 2 assists. Among the rookies, Ryan Craig was the beneficiary of a double deflection goal, his 15th of the season. An injury to Dan Boyle forced the Lightning down to 5 defensemen for much of the game and may necessitate a callup from Springfield.
Paul Ranger was +2 in 21:04 of ice time with 3 shots, 1 hit and 1 blocked shot. Craig was +1 in 18:15 with 2 shots on goal, 1 hit and 1 blocked shot. Evgeny Artyukhin played 5:41 with 2 hits.
[b]Update:[/b]
After the game, Ryan Craig's goal was switched back to Cory Sarich's first of the season with Craig getting a second assist. If it was a case of Craig going to the scorer and saying he didn't touch it in order to get Sarich his first of the year, that's the epitome of class and leadership from a young player.
Game sheet from [url=http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20052006/GS021051.HTM]NHL.com.[/url]